Resolution Minerals identifies new Alaska gold system
Resolution Minerals has discovered an extensive outcropping gold system it calls the Sunrise prospect at its 64North project.
Alaska gold seeker Resolution Minerals (ASX: RML) has identified what it describes as an extensive outcropping gold system at its 64North project.
The new system, named Sunrise, returned 93m at 0.29 grams per tonne gold from surface trenching.
The company said that, typically, a 0.1g/t cut-off grade is used for large Alaskan projects.
Sunrise is adjacent to the Aurora prospect, where drilling intercepted multiple quartz veins but with no significant gold mineralisation found.
Resolution will begin shallow percussion rotary air blast (RAB) drilling at Sunrise in March. The work is fully permitted.
The 64North project surrounds the Pogo mine, owned by Northern Star Resources (ASX: NST) which has so far produced 4 million ounces of gold at an average grade of 13.6g/t. Pogo has a total endowment of 10Moz of gold and is currently producing at a rate of 300,000 ounces per annum.
The company reports that Sunrise, in its West Pogo block, returned positive assay results from the entire 137m of samples.
Sampling indicates Fort Knox-style gold system
Elevated gold presence was confirmed, which Resolution said demonstrates a shallow intrusion-hosted Fort Knox style gold system.
The 11Moz Fort Knox mine near Fairbanks, Alaska is owned by Toronto-based Kinross Gold and produces about 200,000ozpa.
The 93m trenching sample included 27m at 0.53g/t gold and a 1m interval returning 1.89g/t.
Another sample returned 38m at 0.14/g/t gold.
Resolution managing director Duncan Chessell said during 2020, the company focused on its road accessible, high-grade Pogo style gold targets.
This involved a 5,000m drill program in the West Pogo block.
The exploration team used advanced modern geophysics, intersecting the targeted quartz vein on each of the last three diamond core holes.
“Disappointingly, we ended 2020 without high-grade Pogo style success on West Pogo,” he said.
Many drill targets for 2021
However, as Mr Chessell explains, late in the season and while working along the Aurora prospect access road, the exploration team took the opportunity to assess the Fort Knox-style, intrusion hosted gold potential of outcropping granites on the Sunrise prospect.
“The entire 137m of road-cutting samples contain elevated gold consistent with an intrusion hosted gold system,” he said.
But Mr Chessell emphasised the positive results from Sunrise should not take away focus from the “standout” drill targets developed at the East Pogo block.
This block has emerged as a shallow potential high-grade Pogo-style intrusion and will be drilled tested during the northern summer.
“Resolution continues to hunt for big-scale gold and copper targets in big country in 2021 — Alaska and the Northern Territory,” Mr Chessell said.